Maintaining Communication Session Information

1. A method of maintaining communication session information, comprising: determining, at an inspection node, an application requirement of an application running on a wireless device, a traffic class indicator associated with the wireless device, and a wireless communication link load; determining a probability for performing repeated handovers of the wireless device between a first access node using a first radio access technology and a second radio access technology based on a monitored number of re-connection requests made by the wireless device within a predetermined period of time; determining a backhaul load of the first access node; calculating a context maintenance time for the wireless device, wherein the context maintenance time is calculated based on the determined application requirement, traffic class indicator, wireless communication link load, backhaul load, and probability for performing repeated handovers; starting a timer using the calculated context maintenance time when a first handover of the wireless device is performed; and maintaining, at a network node, information related to a communication session between the wireless device and at least the first access node until the timer expires.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: maintaining a signaling communication session related to the wireless device between the first access node and a controller node until the timer expires.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: maintaining a signaling communication session related to the wireless device between the first access node and a gateway node until the timer expires.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication session with the wireless device is re-established using the maintained information when a second handover of the wireless device is performed before the timer expires.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context maintenance time is less than a maximum signaling communication session time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context maintenance time is increased when the application requirement of the application running on the wireless device meets a first criteria, and decreased when the application requirement meets a second criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the traffic class indicator is associated with a guaranteed bit rate (GBR) routing priority the context maintenance time is increased, and when the traffic class indicator is associated with a non-guaranteed bit rate (NGBR) routing priority the context maintenance time is decreased.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the wireless communication link load is greater than or equal to a link load threshold the context maintenance time is increased, and when the wireless communication link load is less than the link load threshold the context maintenance time is decreased.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the context maintenance time is increased when the probability of performing the first handover and the second handover within the predetermined period of time meets a probability threshold, and the context maintenance time is decreased when the probability of performing the first handover and the second handover within the predetermined period of time is less than the probability threshold.

10. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: re-calculating the context maintenance time based on a change in at least one of the application requirement, the traffic class indicator, the wireless communication link load, and the probability of performing the first handover and the second handover within the predetermined period of time.

11. A system for maintaining communication session information, comprising: a processing node configured to: determine, at an inspection node, an application requirement of an application running on a wireless device, a traffic class indicator associated with the wireless device, and a wireless communication link load; determine a probability of performing repeated inter-access node technology handovers between a first access node using a first radio access technology and a second access node using a second radio access technology based on a monitored number of re-connection requests made by the wireless device within a predetermined period of time; determine a backhaul load of the first access node; calculate a context maintenance time for the wireless device, wherein the context maintenance time is calculated based on the determined application requirement, traffic class indicator, wireless communication link load, backhaul load, and probability of performing repeated inter-access node technology handovers; start a timer using the calculated context maintenance time when a first handover of the wireless device is performed; and maintain, at a network node, information related to a communication session between the wireless device and at least the first access node until the timer expires.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing node is further configured to: maintain a signaling communication session related to the wireless device between the first access node and a controller node until the timer expires.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing node is further configured to: maintain a signaling communication session related to the wireless device between the first access node and a gateway node the timer expires.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing node is further configured to: re-establish a communication session with the wireless device using the maintained information when a second handover is performed before the timer expires.